Snapshots
by Ultrawoman
Summary: post-AYITL. Rory is pregnant and in need of help. Jess is the one who has always been there for her. Join the two of them on a journey down the road into the future that neither expected, but were probably fated to walk all along. (A series of snapshots through time, beginning the day after the revival ends).
1. Chapter 1 - 5th November 2016

**A/N: I did say in January, after first watching the revival episodes, that there would be eventual fic from me. I really wanted to finish up my current future fics before I got into this, to keep from confusing both myself and my readers. So, this will begin on the day following the final day featured in 'A Year in the Life' and then spin on into the future...**

 _ **Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks that aren't me.**_

Chapter 1 - _5th November 2016_

"So, this is all the biggest con since Neal Caffrey faked his death."

Rory smiled when she heard his voice behind her, knowing he was right, loving that he just referenced a show they had discussed many times before.

"Both were to save everyone from imminent danger," she noted as Jess came to sit beside her on the bench, drink in hand. "The stress of waiting for this big day... I don't know what it might've done. Y'know Luke did try to call you-"

"He already told me about it, and apologised fifty times." Jess nodded. "Honestly? I'm happy that they're happy. It's been a long time coming."

"Sometimes that's just the way it has to be," said Rory, eyes never leaving her mom and Luke as they danced and laughed amongst the other wedding guests.

There was no way she could look at Jess right now. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Her head was full of things she couldn't say, and yet knew she must. He deserved the truth. Out of everyone in her life, he always deserved honesty from her. It wouldn't be long before he realised something was wrong, but Rory couldn't pre-empt it, she didn't know where to start.

"So, three chapters in already?" he said of her book that she had so excitedly spoken of just yesterday. "It's coming easy?"

"Even easier than I thought." Rory smiled, glad of the subject change, still every kind of enthusiastic about her new project. "I went over to Hartford, walked into my grandpa's study, sat down at his desk, and it just happened. It felt like the right place."

Jess nodded, even though she barely looked at him so probably didn't notice. There were no words he could say to that. Rory missed Richard like crazy, he knew that much. He was a hole in her life that would never truly be filled. Jess never really could understand how that felt. He never had anybody to lose before.

The silence wasn't awkward. It never had been with them, even in the worst of times. They were comfortable enough to be talking or not talking. Unfortunately, Lorelai was in hyper-drive today, and had maybe had a little too much champagne at this point. She saw the two of them sitting together and came barrelling over to remind her maid of honour and Luke's best man that they were supposed to be sharing a dance already.

Still without speaking a word, Rory and Jess got up to do their wedding day duty. His hands went to her waist and hers to his shoulders like the most natural thing in the world and they swayed to a slow song that was already playing. This was when the comfortable silence took a turn into awkward territory.

They hadn't been this close in so long. A brief hug here and there was about as far as things had gone these past ten years. The last time they were genuinely physically this close had been long before, at Truncheon, when Jess kissed Rory and she kissed back, before eventually pulling away and declaring she was still with Logan, that she still loved him. Jess hadn't thought he would ever get over the pain she caused him that day, but they found a way past it, in time. They had gotten to here, to this point, where they were friends again, the real kind that were always there for each other, never wavered. Didn't stop the closeness of this moment feeling so very strange.

"Er, if you need any help with the editing on your manuscript, you can send it my way," said Jess, deciding it was a safe enough topic to go with, just so long as he was saying something. "I'm pretty good at that these days."

"Thanks." Rory smiled, both at the sweet offer and the understatement of the century. "You know I don't expect to come to you for all my book writing needs. That'd be a little brazen."

"Hey, you need me, I'm there," Jess promised her, realising too late that had come out way too serious as their eyes met. "I mean, I could even pitch it to Chris and Matthew," he said, glancing away as they continued to move to the music, though not very much by now. "I know how well you write, Truncheon would be more than happy to publish your novel."

They stopped moving entirely then when Rory looked at him.

"You're serious."

Jess frowned, confused that she would even be surprised.

"When it comes to books, always."

She smiled at that, knowing it was definitely true. Jess was never so serious as when he talked about books. In the beginning, when they had first known each other, it was almost their sole topic of conversation. They would wax lyrical on the works they both loved, quoting passages, comparing notes, but the most fun was when they bickered over the writers and novels they just couldn't agree on. More than once lately, Rory had reminisced about those days and felt sad that she couldn't get them back somehow. Thinking of it now must have put too serious a look on her face because the next thing she knew Jess was calling her on it.

"Why do I think there's more on your mind than the book and the wedding?" he asked, his grip tightening on her just a little when she made to get away. "C'mon, Rory, talk to me. Maybe I can help."

A burst of laughter that held no humour escaped her lips then.

"It's not quite so simple this time," she told him, shaking her head.

Her eyes darted left and right, to her mom and Luke, to the other guests. Jess half expected her to run from him. At the same time, he almost wondered if she planned to make some ridiculous announcement to the assembled crowd. In the end, she did neither.

"Walk with me?" she urged him, offering her hand.

"Sure."

Jess nodded easily, grabbing her hand and taking a double quick step just to keep up with her when she set off at a pace. He paid no attention to where they were going. Mostly Jess was wondering why they were headed there at all. Rory clearly needed to talk about something that was bothering her. It wasn't the wedding or the book because they already covered that, but it was clearly something pretty serious.

It was too much for him to dare to dream that this was about the two of them. For all that he told Luke he was over her, and told himself the same thing as regularly as necessary, Jess never had gotten over Rory Gilmore. Seeing her again had only proven to him that he probably never would, and maybe even that he never truly wanted to.

When suddenly there were wooden planks beneath his feet and the journey seemed to be over, Jess realised he was on the bridge and that Rory was no longer holding onto his hand. There were a million reasons why she might've brought him here and Jess wasn't sure he was entirely ready for any of them.

"So, should I brace to be pushed or...?" he asked, the dead-pan joke dropping from his lips like a defence mechanism.

It did not lessen the blow when Rory finally met his eyes and answered him.

"I'm pregnant."

"Huh."

Rory smiled at his lack of response. She couldn't do anything else.

"Nice to know some things never change," she remarked, all the breath seeming to go out of her body in a rush then as she lowered herself to sit down.

Jess took a moment to regroup. Of all the things he could've ever expected her to say, that didn't even make the top one hundred, he was sure. The processing of it took longer than expected. Eventually he sat down beside Rory.

"I'm guessing the father is the ex?" he said, looking everywhere but at her - Rory didn't notice since she was doing the exact same thing. "The famous P you kept on forgetting to dump?"

"No," she confessed, looking down at her hands in her lap. "No, it's not Paul. It's Logan," she said eventually, glancing up at the last moment because she had to see his reaction, good or bad, the latter being what she expected. "And I know what you're going to say-"

"I doubt it," Jess cut her off unceremoniously, scrambling to get to his feet and walk away.

In five seconds she had done it again, just torn his heart out and stomped all over it. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair. It wasn't exactly her fault either, but that didn't stop the pain. She had been seeing Logan again. That worthless, stupid, blond dick from Yale, who cheated on her back then and probably more recently too. Jess found himself suddenly back at Truncheon, on that day ten years ago, when the same asshole was the reason Rory was crying and telling Jess she was sorry. Here they were again and Jess was bearing the same wound in his heart, whether he had a right or not.

"Jess!"

"What do you want from me, Rory?" he yelled back at her, hating himself in a second but unable to keep his temper right now.

"I want the friend who has always had my back!" she told him, tears in her voice that it killed him to hear, killed him to see when he made himself turn back to her. "I need him right now, maybe more than I ever did before. And yes, I know it's so wrong of me to ask because... For so many reasons," she told him desperately, "but that's what I want. It's what I need, Jess."

She was so broken, so lost, so not his Rory right now, and yet Jess knew that was exactly who she was. No matter what happened, no matter if she was pregnant with another man's child, crying on a bridge in the middle of a crack-pot town on her mother's wedding day. None of it mattered. She was always his Rory and Jess would always be there for her. He didn't know how to be anything else.

Moving towards her, he wrapped his arms around her shaking form without another moment's pause, and Rory cried openly into his shoulder.

This was so far from how today was supposed to go, but right now it didn't even feel like Luke and Lorelai's wedding day or any normal day in Stars Hollow. It felt like the end of something, maybe the beginning of something else, a strange blip in time that Jess would worry about later. Right now all that could matter was bringing Rory some kind of comfort, now that her crying was down to a dull roar.

"If you need me, I'm here," he promised in a whisper. "You know that."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled against his shoulder.

"For what?" Jess pulled away enough to see her tear-stained face, pushing her hair back behind her ear as he spoke seriously to her. "You don't owe me anything. It's been a long time, Rory. You didn't cheat on me, you never did."

"I know," she told him, sniffing hard, "but I'm still sorry."

Jess really had no idea what else to say to her, so he said nothing at all. He pulled her close again, rubbing her back and promising her a couple more times that it'd be okay. Maybe that was the biggest con in history, because honestly, Jess had no idea how to fix any of this. Of course, that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

 **A/N2: As the title 'Snapshots' implies, this isn't going to be a long, linear story but rather a short series of one-shot scenes through time. They will be in time order but there will be gaps in between of several months at a time. I need to show key events and not get bogged down in the in between. I hope it works out as well as I've planned :)**


	2. Chapter 2 - 12th August 2017

**A/N: Wow, that is A LOT of reviews! Thanks, all. You're wonderful people :) I had no idea my foray into the post-revival world would be so popular. Well, let's hope you enjoy the rest of this story as much as you liked the first chapter. Here we go, leaping ahead in time, to the Summer of this very year :)**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 2 - _12th August 2017_

He didn't know what he was doing here. Actually, that was a lie, he did know exactly, but maybe he just wished he didn't. Heading out of the back door, Jess forced a breath through his lungs, tried to be ready for the sight about to meet his eyes. It didn't help. He didn't expect it to.

"Knock, knock?"

Rory looked up sharply at the voice she knew so well and yet it was the very last person she expected to be visiting. It was tough to say who looked more shocked when Jess realised quite what he had walked in on. He turned his back immediately and Rory moved the baby away from her breast, covering herself up fast. Jacob was pretty much done feeding anyway and half asleep in her arms, so he wouldn't care much.

"All clear," she said, clearing her throat, knowing she was blushing seven different shades of red.

Thankfully, Jess looked more embarrassed than she did when he faced her again, even if he did manage to do that while remaining his usual colour.

"When Lorelai said you were out here, she didn't mention what exactly you were doing," he said awkwardly, starting to gesture with his hand and then deciding against. "Probably on purpose, just for maximum cruelty."

"Probably," Rory agreed with a forced smile. "Um, introductions," she said then, shaking her head. "Jess Mariano, I'd like you to officially meet Jacob Lucas Richard Gilmore."

"Wow," he said, staring down at the tiny infant in Rory's arms. "He has more names than he has mass right now."

"Could be a few years before that changes," she agreed, "but as much as I wanted him to have his own unique moniker, I couldn't stand to leave either of them out," she explained, moving over so Jess could share the porch swing with her. "He was almost Jacob Richard Lucas, but mom started making Dallas references."

"That sounds about right."

Silence fell over the yard in the very next moment. If things had been awkward with them before when Rory was pregnant, the weird vibe increased ten-fold now that her son was here in the world. It was almost possible to ignore the fact she was carrying a child in the beginning. Jess wasn't in Stars Hollow all that much, he couldn't afford to be. He was needed in Philly, New York, a bunch of other places that kept him conveniently away, but he had been as good as his word when it came to being there for Rory. If she needed a friend, a sounding board, an editor, a shoulder, he was there. He never failed her. Answered every call even if he was busy or it was the middle of the night. Replied to every rambling email whether it was about her writing, her swollen ankles, or the latest crazy town event. Jess was the best friend she had begged for him to be, and it was actually okay. Not seeing her, skimming over the stuff she mentioned about the pregnancy, the baby, Logan frickin' Huntzberger, Jess could let himself pretend it wasn't happening for a long while. No chance of that anymore.

"Um, I wasn't expecting you," said Rory eventually. "Last we talked you never mentioned a visit."

"Didn't know myself until yesterday," Jess admitted, eyes fixed on some spot far across the back yard rather than on Rory or Jacob. "I had a meeting in New York, and y'know, you made me promise to drop by next time that happened."

"You've become a real man of your word."

Rory smiled when she said it. Jess didn't have to look at her to know she was wearing the expression, he heard it, felt it.

"Better late than never," he muttered in reply, not allowing her a chance to counter before he continued. "So, I guess the book has been on hold for a while now, with... everything."

He was making vague gestures with his hands again, now towards the baby in her arms. Rory saw him struggling and wasn't sure whether to feel bad for him or defensive for herself. It wasn't as if Jess hadn't known that she was pregnant or that her condition would lead to a baby. After Jacob was born, Luke had called him with the news, but Rory emailed soon after, enclosing a picture and all the less-gory details. Jess had seemed fine then. Now he was here and it was different, and not in a good way.

"You don't have to be here if you don't want to be," she told him, trying to keep her tone even.

It seemed wrong to accuse him of anything, after all he had done for her, but at the same time, she didn't like that he was acting as if she did something wrong. This wasn't his child, and she wasn't his girlfriend. He had no place to judge her. He had told her as much months ago now and promised he never would be that guy.

"It's not... I want to be here, Rory," he promised her then, making himself meet her eyes. "I'm sorry. This takes a little getting used to is all, you and the whole mother thing."

"You think it's weird for you? Try being me," Rory told him with an odd note of almost delirious humour in her voice. "Jess, I had nine months to get used to the idea that I was about to be a mom, but now Jacob is here... I couldn't love him more, but it feels so strange. I keep expecting someone to show up and tell me it was all a mistake. To wake up and realise this was all a weird dream." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't really know how to do this. I can't imagine how my mom coped, at sixteen, all by herself. I have everybody here to help me and yet most days I feel so... so overwhelmed."

"You gotta give yourself a little time, Ror," Jess advised her, one hand going to her shoulder and gently squeezing. "It's only been a few weeks, you'll get used to it. And you cannot keep on comparing yorself to Lorelai. For all the similarities between you two, you're not the same person. Just because she dealt with things the way she did, you're allowed to be scared or lost or overwhelmed. Pretty sure that's normal."

Rory smiled and leaned into his touch. He always knew what to say. Jess had a way with words that few could understand, at least when it came to the verbal thing. In writing, most were well aware of his skills as a wordsmith, but in front of a crowd of strangers, Jess could clam up faster than anybody Rory had ever met. It was always been different when they were alone. He rarely failed to say the right thing to her, just exactly what Rory needed to hear, even if not always what she wanted.

"You asked about the book," she said, sniffing some to keep the tears at bay. "It's done. At least, it's as done as I can do by myself. There were delays, for obvious reasons, and less obvious ones. My mom's part of the story seemed to come easy, even the start of mine, but later... It got complicated, and I got emotional," she admitted, blushing as she recalled how stupid she had felt for a while there. "Anyway, the first draft is done, and I've done a little editing myself. It could use a professional eye though, if the offer still stands?"

"Always," Jess assured her, finding her a smile at last. "Although I think professional might be pushing it."

"Jess, come on. You've worked at Truncheon more than ten years now. What you don't know about editing and publishing isn't worth knowing."

He might have answered that with something smart and quippy if their attention wasn't wholly taken by Jacob stirring in Rory's arms then. She adjusted her hold on him, rocking him gently and shushing him back to sleep. Jess couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he watched her.

"I don't know what you were so worried about. You're a natural," he told her easily.

"It's not always so easy," she admitted. "I'm guessing you don't want to..." she said, making a half-assed attempt at offering the chance to hold the baby and they both knew it.

"I don't really... I'd probably drop him or something," he said, shaking his head, before seeing the disappointment cloud her beautiful blue eyes, "but hey, if you're willing to risk it, hand him over."

Rory laughed, she couldn't help it. At least the joke he made broke some of the tension as she got up and carefully guided both the baby and Jess' arms until they came together in harmony.

Jess tried not to tense up, tried not to think of this kid as the reason he couldn't easily be with Rory. It wasn't Jacob's fault he had been born, and certainly not the kid's choice that his father was some dick that didn't care enough. It was easy to forget as he looked down at the perfect little bundle in his arms. Jacob was going to have dark hair, and hopefully his mother's eyes. That would help.

"Is it weird if I say he kinda looks like Lorelai?" he said then, realising with a frown that it was true.

"You're not the first to make that comment," Rory noted, leaning back on the swing beside him and apparently enjoying the view of Jess holding her son. "It's weird, because I thought I looked enough like Mom that people would say Jacob looked like me, but no, he's just like Grandma Lorelai."

"Oh, I'll bet she loves that title."

"I got her a T-shirt with it written on the front in glitter. She's adjusting."

Jess laughed at the picture in his head that conjured. He really hoped the reality was as good, and that he got to see it before this visit was over. When his attention went back to the baby, his smile never wavered. The kid was cute, and he was going to be a Gilmore, not a Huntzberger. Maybe in time it would be easy to forget where and what he came from. Jess suspected Jacob would be better off if that were true.

"Looks like you're a natural too," said Rory, watching him. "You never met Doula when she was this small, did you?"

"Nope," Jess confirmed. "This is kind of a first for me. Not as scary as I thought," he admitted.

Rory laughed lightly mostly because it kept her from crying. This could be a perfect moment, a perfect scene, a family photograph just waiting to happen. It was a shame it wasn't that simple, that the three of them were not the happy little unit they might appear to some unsuspecting viewer. Rory swallowed hard and thought of other things.

"Are you okay for a second while I go get the manuscript?"

"Um, yeah, I guess." Jess nodded, watching her get up and hurry to the back door.

When she was gone he let out a breath he hardly knew he had been holding. This was tougher than he thought in some ways, easier in others. It was so strange to be here like this, to see Rory as a mother. She looked hardly any different to the day they met here in this house, and yet so very much had changed.

"You're one lucky kid, you know that right?" he told the baby in his arms then. "You have got pretty much the greatest mom in the world. Some people will tell you you're missing out, because of the absent father thing, but trust me, you're better off. I'm not exactly the best example for how kids like us turn out, but Rory is. Your mom is amazing. I never met a woman as incredible as her, and I don't think I ever will. You'll be just fine with her, and your Grandma Lorelai, and Luke. And I'll be around too, as much as I can. You're never gonna be out on your own wondering why nobody cares, Jacob. That's not gonna happen to you."

Jess didn't hear the back door open and close again. Rory made sure he didn't. She had gotten as far as the threshold when she heard him talking and knew he could only be speaking to her son.

It would be a good ten minutes more before she had enough composure to face Jess, and even then, Rory wasn't sure how she didn't confess to hearing all he had said. He spoke of her being so amazing but Rory knew now more than ever that the word applied way more to him than anyone else. He had been everything she asked of him and more these past few months, and still he kept on helping her, supporting her. If what he said to Jacob was anything to go by, he didn't plan on stopping any time soon. Rory wasn't sure she deserved all of this, but damn it, she was going to try.


	3. Chapter 3 - 2nd January 2018

**A/N: So many reviews, and from some new folks that I don't know as well as my regular readers - that's very cool :) Thanks to all. Hope you continue to enjoy the 'snapshots'.**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 3 - _2nd January 2018_

"The thing about a small business is we never really close," said Matthew into the phone. "Sure, we took a day for Christmas, had kind of a late start yesterday, but we don't hit our deadlines or put out our content, we don't get paid."

"Ain't that the truth?" Jess muttered from the next desk over, doing his best to write a kind email to a writer that never took criticism well - this coddling thing did not come easy to him, even after so many years.

"Mail call!" said Chris, suddenly appearing and flinging a package into Jess' in tray.

At first he didn't even look up, concentrating on finishing off his email. When he did pay attention to the supposed mail, it was with confusion. There was no return address, in fact, there wasn't even any postage on the padded envelope. Tearing it open, he tipped a book out into his free hand and frowned harder. 'Gilmore Girls' by Lorelai Leigh sat there staring at him. He had seen it before.

Though Jess fully believed that Rory could get one of the major players of the publishing game to put her book to print, he and the guys at Truncheon had made her an offer she couldn't refuse on an initial print run to get the ball rolling. Jess planned on helping her to push forward with getting someone like Random House or Pan Macmillan to step in and really get her out there in the world, but for now, this was good enough, at least Rory said so.

Opening up the front cover, Jess expected to find some message scrawled in there in Rory's own hand. They had joked about him getting the first signed copy after all, until Lorelai insisted she should get the first and maybe Jess might get the second. It was no surprise then when Jess flipped to the dedication page and found the swirling signature of Rory's penname there. The real point of the gift seemed to be the writing on the adjacent page, also in the author's own hand.

'To Dodger, I couldn't have done it without you. Rory x'

Just when Jess didn't think he could be any more surprised, he was.

"You didn't think I'd trust that to the US Postal Service, did you?"

Looking up, eyes wider than ever, Jess saw Rory standing in the doorway, as beautful as she had ever been. Jess was pretty sure she could never be anything else in his eyes. Chris was grinning and encouraging Matthew to end his call and leave the room. Whatever this was, they were clearly in on it.

"It was supposed to be your Christmas gift," Rory continued, walking over to his desk now, "but you never made it back to Stars Hollow..."

She looked all kinds of sad about it, which Jess loved and hated in equal measure. He wouldn't hurt Rory for the world, not now, not after everything, but at the same time, he didn't hate that she clearly missed him this past holiday season.

"Sorry about that," he said, remembering his manners and dragging a chair over for her. "First flight was cancelled from the snow. I never got the message about the rescheduling, then the window was kind of gone," he explained.

Rory nodded. She knew the story, she would've heard it from Luke or Lorelai at the time. They had spoken on Christmas but only in text form. Quite honestly, Jess hadn't made a massive effort, deciding it was probably best if he didn't. It wasn't as if he was expected in the Hollow for every major holiday. He and Rory went four years without seeing each other, without hardly speaking at all, but things were different now. Everything changed when he walked into the newspaper office that Summer and told her to write a book. It shifted a second time when Rory announced she was pregnant in the Fall, and a third time when Jess met the baby that came out of that pregnancy. It seemed as if the stagnant non-relationship between them was constantly altering now. For the life of him, Jess couldn't figure out if that was a good thing or not. He would like to think so, but maybe it was too much to hope for after all this time.

"At least you have it now," said Rory of the book Jess still held tight in is hands. "Pretty good, huh?" she added, blushing as she tended to do in such moments.

It was nice to know some things hadn't change in more than fifteen years. It was probably for the best that some other things had, Jess thought, before turning his attention back to the subject at hand.

"This is amazing, Rory," he promised her, "and I don't just mean the dedication. You wrote a book," he said with a smile as their eyes met.

"You wrote one first," she reminded him, smiling right back

"That's not the point."

They were both slipping back in time, it was as clear as crystal to the both of them that this moment was almost a carbon copy of at least two that had come before. The two of them sat opposite each other, the first time him telling her about The Subsect, her congratulating him, being as proud as she deserved to be, because it never would have happened without her. Then a second moment, the next year, right here at Truncheon, when she had come to see where he worked, and to make some misguided attempt at evening the score with Huntzberger. Jess had thought, on both occasions, that just maybe this was their time. He had been wrong, and it made him ever more wary about getting his hopes up now. Things couldn't be more complicated between him and Rory than they were this time around.

"Er, where's Jacob?" he asked, placing the book down carefully on the desk.

"At home, with Mom," Rory explained, an answer that came as no surprise to Jess. "As much as I love him, travelling light would've been impossible with him here."

Jess nodded his understanding and then struggled for the next thing to say. It was crazy to think about the way they were at seventeen, when they could talk for hours without pause and completely lose track of time, or sit in companionable silence just reading or watching a movie, nothing uncomfortable under the surface at all. Any painful silences that had developed later when the problems started had always been filled with alternate uses of their lips. Jess decided that was a path best left untravelled in his mind and fought for a subject change that wouldn't come.

"It's okay that I dropped by, right?" asked Rory then. "I mean, if you're busy, I can just-"

"Don't," he said quickly, hand landing on her arm when she moved as if to leave. "I'm sorry, Ror. I'm honestly glad you're here. You just surprised me, that's all."

"Makes a change from you popping up in the Hollow when I'm least expecting it."

"Touche."

They smiled and the awkwardness melted a little as Rory dropped back into her seat.

"So," she said then, hands falling together in her lap. "Buy a girl a cup of coffee?" she tried.

Jess nodded, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair as he stood up.

"I know a place."

They walked down the streets of Philly, bundled up against the cold, talking generally about the weather, the atmosphere of town, and the usual topic of books. It was painfully familiar and comfortably benign all at the same time.

At the coffeehouse, Jess watched Rory from across the table as she took her first sip, trying not to react to the way she moaned.

"Wow. This is... This is almost as good as Luke's," she admitted, looking surprised by her own words somehow.

"I know. First time I came here and tasted the coffee, I was almost convinced I'd fallen through some weird portal in space and time and I was back in Stars Hollow."

"You don't need a fancy science fiction plot device to visit, y'know?" said Rory, perhaps a little more pointedly than she intended, since she made a big deal of not looking at Jess just as soon as the words were out.

"I could say the same to you," he shot back, wincing a little when she met his eyes. "Except you have that whole 'impossible to travel light' thing going on now," he recalled too late, hiding in his cup the very next moment.

The awkwardness reared it's ugly head one more time, like a physical presence at the table. Rory hated that, almost as much as she knew Jess did, but it seemed impossible to overcome lately. For the longest time they were so close. Even when they couldn't be together - before they dated, after they dated - they found a way to be friends. There had been that weird gap of four years, and for good reason, but they had just fallen back into a rhythm those last few months before the wedding, before the pregnancy.

Rory knew that if there was a wall between her and Jess now it was of her own building. She loved Jacob more than she could ever love anyone else, but Jess was right up there on her list. She had always known it and more so that day on the bridge when she told him she was pregnant and he agreed to be there for her more than ever before. He was as good as his word too, with her, the pregnancy, the book, everything. She really couldn't fault him for anything, not even for staying away from Stars Hollow the last few months. This had to be as strange for him as it was for her, maybe stranger, but she so wanted it to be okay between them.

"Jess," she said eventually, hand covering his on the table. "I... I came here today for a whole bunch of reasons, but mostly to say thank you. I meant what I wrote in that book. I really couldn't have gotten this far without you. And I'm not just talking about editing my manuscript, publishing my book, or even giving me the idea to do it. It's so much more than that."

"Rory..." he began, shaking his head, but she wasn't going to let him cut in now she was in full flow.

"No, Jess, please let me finish," she insisted. "I know if we go back far enough, you can find things that are your fault. We've been over it a hundred times, but we were both so young back then. You screwed up, I screwed up. We agreed to forgive and forget, and I'm not going back there again. I'm talking about now, this last year or so. You've... you've really been there for me. You didn't have to, not in any way at all. You don't owe me anything anymore, if you ever did, but you've been there. You have no idea what that means to me," she told him, tears pricking at her eyes by now.

"I told you I'd be here," he reminded her, frowning at the sight of her emotional state. "I never broke a promise to you, Rory, never. Even when I was a seventeen year old jackass," he said with a smirk that always came through in a pinch. "You need me, I'm there. That's the deal with you and me."

"It is what it is - you, me," she said, an echo of a long ago day that she recalled with so much clarity even now.

As a phrase, it had stuck with her a long time, perhaps a perfect description of the relationship she and Jess had shared over the years, in all its good and bad phases.

"And I know that things are so different now, with me being a mom and everything. I'm not expecting anything more, I can't, but-"

She didn't get a chance to say anymore. Those few words were all the encouragement Jess needed, enough to make him get up from his seat and lean over the table enough to reach her. His hand cupped Rory's cheek as he brought his lips to hers for the first time in way too long. She certainly seemed to agree on that score if her reaction was anything to go by. It was only when somebody walking by muttered that they should get a room that the oblivious couple parted ways from their now-intense kiss.

"Well, that part still works," said Rory breathlessly, smiling like the sun.

"Can't argue with that," Jess agreed, grinning like an idiot, he was certain on that. "But seriously, Ror," he said, dropping into the seat beside her now, "we're too old and too wise to think that's all it takes this time."

"I know," she told him immediately. "I know it's more than that, Jess, but... but can't we try and make the rest work? I know I'm asking a lot, I'm not stupid. I have a baby, a son that's not yours and that's a lot for a guy to take on-"

"I love you, Rory," he told her, cutting off whatever overly long ramble she had in mind. "Loved you since the first second I saw you and never stopped once, even when I probably should've," he told her, holding her face in his hands, ensuring she heard and believed every single word. "And I can't promise that it's going to work out this time, I just can't, but I'll give it my best shot if you want to. When it comes to you, I'm all in. I don't know how to be anything else."

Rory was actually crying now. She knew it and she couldn't help it. It took an enormous effort to get any words out at all, but she had them in mind to say and was determined to speak.

"I love you too, Jess," she told him. "I really wish I'd told you that sooner, like, years sooner," she cried. "Might've saved a lot of heartache."

"Maybe," he agreed, nodding his head, "or maybe it was supposed to be now."

"Maybe," she said, leaning in closer.

When they kissed this time, it wasn't quite so desperate as before. They weren't going anywhere, they weren't worried about it all imploding before they had a chance to save themselves. This kiss was to seal a deal, to make a promise. They were both going to try harder this time, and make this thing work. In a lot of ways, it was the last chance. Screwing up just wasn't an option anymore.


	4. Chapter 4 - 4th July 2018

**A/N: Look at all the reviews! You folks are lovely - thank you! :) Now, let's deal with the Logan situation...**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 4 - _4th July 2018_

She had invited him, she ought to have known there was a chance he would show up, and yet finding Logan at her door had Rory feeling completely bowled over. Somehow he had always been very good at that. Good to know some things never changed.

"Hi," she said, finding no more words naturally came to mind.

"Hey, Ace," he replied, with a smile and all the easy charm he had ever possessed.

The difference was in the eyes. They always gave him away if a person knew what to look for. Right now they were showing fear and apprehension rarely seen in a Huntzbergers face, but then these were extenuating circumstances.

"I guess you better come in," she said, moving away from the door and ushering him inside.

"I'm guessing you...?" he began, but the rest of the question died on his tongue.

The room had fallen silent when the assembled party saw who had arrived. Lorelai and Luke were there, it was their house so that part wasn't a shock to Logan. Lane and Zach he recognised from years ago and their kids accompanied them. He would not necessarily have been shocked to see Paris, or Sookie, or a whole mess of other people he recalled from Rory's past, and yet the man stood in the centre of the scene, holding what had to be the child Logan had fathered and yet to meet, he was a surprise, and not a pleasant one.

Rory looked from Logan to Jess and back again. This was bad. Very bad, actually. Shaking her head, she swung into action, pushing past Logan into the living room and retrieving her son from Jess.

"Can't believe he showed up," she heard him mutter as Jacob left his arms.

"Right there with ya," Lorelai agreed, zipping her mouth closed when Rory shot her a look.

Logan was still standing in the hallway, staring in at the scene he didn't belong to, in awe of the tiny person Rory carried towards him now.

"C'mon," she urged Logan to follow her.

The two of them, plus baby making three, went into Rory's bedroom and pushed the door closed behind them. It didn't look like he remembered, but then it had been more than ten years since he saw it last. Logan noted the crib in the corner, how most areas were covered in baby-related items, from clothes to toys and everything in-between. Rory was a mother, and her baby was his own. The reality of it hadn't hit Logan quite as hard as this before.

"Oh, Rory," he said, sitting down fast on the trunk at the end of her bed, face in his hands. "I can't... This is crazy."

"No, this is parenthood," she said succinctly. "You'd know that if you'd been a part of our lives this past year."

"Ace..." he began, but the look on her face when he peered up at her put paid to any of that in a second.

"No, Logan. We're not going to fight about this and you're not going to give me any excuses. That's not how this is going to work," she said definitely. "I told you from the start, I was going to have my baby and raise him my own way," she reminded him. "You have a right to visit, to receive updates on Jacob's progress, whatever you want, but he is my son first, and you don't get to screw around with his life."

The words were on the tip of Logan's tongue - 'He's my son too' - but he swallowed them down hard. That was biology, plain and simple. Being a father was much bigger than that. Logan knew better than most. Mitchum wasn't the absentee type, but he might as well have been. Whenever he was around, it was usually pushing his son in one direction or the other, never letting him be quite what he wanted. Logan thought he had learnt to live with that, learnt to embrace it. Now he wondered if that was really true.

He looked up at Rory, more so the baby she held in the arms. He had her eyes, her hair colour, a perfect little man with way more Gilmore in him than Huntzberger. That had to be a comfort to them all. Ought to make things easier for Logan too, but it didn't.

"So, this is him."

"Yeah," Rory nodded, trying to encourage her son to look at his father, though he didn't seem keen to get his face out of her shoulder. "Logan, this is Jacob. Jacob, this is... Daddy," she said, with just a hint of awkwardness.

Logan got up and moved closer, reached out to the baby who immediately looked wary. Jacob eyed him curiously from a fair distance, then shook his head and hugged onto Rory even tighter.

"He's not great with strangers," she said, expression almost guilty.

They both knew she had stung him with those words but also that they were never intended to wound. It was just true. To Jacob, Daddy was a stranger. Logan was just a random man who showed up at the front door on his birthday and took him away from his family, those he knew and loved. Logan wasn't sure he would be too impressed if he was Jacob either.

"I shouldn't have come here," he said, shaking his head.

Logan went for the door and Rory almost laughed, though there wasn't a shred of humour in her body right now.

"Great," she said shortly. "So now you're just going to run away. Again."

"It's not that simple, Rory!" he yelled, having already pulled open the door.

He didn't immediately see, as Rory did, that Jess was out in the kitchen. Clearly he had come to see what was going on, maybe heard some yelling starting up and was worried. Rory knew Jess was probably itching to go after her from the second she walked away with Jacob in her arms and Logan on her heels. Just as soon as he had an excuse, he would be by her side, just like always. She loved that about him, it was one of many things, but right now just the very sight of him was going to be inflammatory to Logan.

"Hey," said Jess, looking only at Rory.

"Hey," she replied in kind, finding him a smile. "Could you...?" she said, offering her son to him.

"Sure," he agreed easily, reaching for the little boy who went more than willingly into his arms. "C'mon, Jakey."

"His name is Jacob," Logan snapped, though he already knew it was pointless.

The look Jess shot him only made that clearer as Jacob hugged the man who wasn't his father with all his might.

"Don't go there, Huntzberger," Jess advised. "Just don't."

With that parting shot, Jess walked away, presumably back to the party. Rory raised her hand to Jacob who was saying 'bye' and waving like a crazy person. It was something he recently learnt and enjoyed so much. Logan wouldn't know that. He knew nothing about their child. Nothing beyond his name and date of birth, Rory suspected, though she had provided other details. Until today, he probably couldn't have picked the boy out of a baby-sized line-up.

"He has no right-"

"He has every right," she cut him off the moment he began, spinning on her heel to face him with anger flashing in her eyes. "Jess is my step-father's nephew and a part of this family," she said definitely, voice low as much out of anger as a need to not have everybody hear this conversation.

"I'm your son's father," Logan shot back. "Doesn't that count for anything?"

Rory shook her head, anger fading back to sadness in a second.

"I don't know, Logan. Does it?" she asked him helplessly. "I offered you chance after chance to come meet Jacob. I told you I was pregnant. I let you know when Jacob was born. I sent photographs, emails, and it's not as if you didn't know where to find us."

"I know that", he said, turning away from her too blue eyes and expression of genuine confusion. "It's complicated, Rory. You know it is," he said, running a hand back through his hair.

Rory watched him pace around the room a while before finally coming to rest on a chair in the corner. He picked up a tiny stuffed bear and held it in both hands, staring at it as if he hoped it might give him all the answers he was looking for. Of course it didn't, it was never going to, but Logan was so much at a loss right now, he would wish for a miracle.

It would be easy to take pity on him. Rory almost wanted to give in, to throw her arms around him, hug him and tell him it would all be okay, but she couldn't. Staying mad at Logan wouldn't help her, but she wasn't about to let him off so easy. Parenthood was tough, she knew that already, and Jacob - who was fast becoming Jake thanks to just about everybody but her and her grandma - was only a year old yet. There was a lot still to go through, a lot of uphill battles, and Rory was essentially on her own in this. Sure, she had her mom and Luke, Lane and Zach, Sookie and Jackson, a whole ton of help, not to mention Jess who had been amazing from the start, but she was the only parent here. Everything came down to her in the end, because Logan wasn't around to play his part.

"I'm... I'm not trying to make you feel bad," she said eventually.

A hollow laugh escaped Logan's throat.

"Really? I'd hate to see you motivated, Ace."

Rory smiled at that, she couldn't help it. She moved to sit down on the trunk at the end of the bed, facing Logan. He looked more helpless than Jacob right now. It was equal parts pathetic and adorable somehow. Mostly, it was just familiarly painful.

"You thought this would be easy, didn't you?"

"No," he denied it hotly, before considering. "Maybe, a little," he admitted then, running his hands over his face. "I thought it'd be easy to stay away, to not... to not be involved. Geez, Rory, I'm not ready to be a father. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that."

"Should've thought of that before the champagne and the bed and breakfast in Vermont," she said with a wry smile. "I guess we both should've thought more, before it was too late."

Logan nodded, knowing she was perfectly right. They both screwed up in their own ways, getting into that weird and unhealthy relationship they had going on for a while. Neither of them really wanted to commit to each other, and yet they kept on playing around. Seems Rory breaking things off had come just a little too late. The dates tallied just right. Jacob was almost definitely the product of that final time.

"So, you called him family. Luke's nephew," said Logan then, clearly not able to speak his name because Rory was almost certain he knew it well enough. "He's more than that, isn't he?"

"He's more than that." Rory nodded solemnly. "Jess is... He's really been there for me, and I don't just mean with the pregnancy and Jacob and everything, I mean, always," she tried to explain. "I... I did love you, Logan," she said then, reaching to take a hold of his hand. "A part of me is always going to love you, not least because you're the father of my son, but... but Jess is different. I think, if I'm honest with myself, deep down I always knew it was supposed to be me and him in the end."

"Yeah." Logan nodded, squeezing her hand now. "As much as I hate to say it, I'm pretty sure I knew that too."

He left within the hour and Rory wasn't sorry. Logan said he would appreciate updates and that he would send money, gifts, the usual kind of thing, but wasn't sure when he would be able to visit again. Rory didn't judge, didn't complain. She had given him the same choices that Lorelai had given Christopher so many years ago. Rory knew it was right for them and it was right for her and Logan as well. She would never pretend he wasn't Jacob's father and she would always ensure their son knew his Daddy was a decent sort of man, he just wasn't around much, he had another life he needed to live.

"You okay?" asked Jess as he found Rory by the front door, a single tear making it's way down her cheek.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she promised, wiping that tear away and finding a smile. "It was just weird, seeing him again like that, but I'm good."

Jess nodded that he understood, bouncing Jacob on his hip.

"Y'know what, Jakey? I think Mommy could use a hug right now," he said, offering the baby to his mother.

"Mama!" the little boy said happily, hugging her tight around her neck.

"Oh, I love you, baby," she said definitely. "Both of you," she added, looking at Jess.

Jess didn't say a word, just smiled and threw an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple as they walked back into the party.


	5. Chapter 5 - 15th September 2019

**A/N: Glad you like how I handled the Logan situation. Mostly, I just wanna write happy Lit but these things have to be dealt with. Now, on we go!**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 5 - _15th September 2019_

Something wasn't right. Jess couldn't be sure exactly what was up but there was something. The clock was telling him it was a little after two in the morning, and since Rory was sleeping soundly beside him, he couldn't imagine what woke him up. Jacob wasn't making a sound in the next room either, but something wasn't right.

Jess ran a hand over his face, pushing his hair back as he hopped out of bed. He shivered in the cold but didn't stop to find more clothes, his mind was on other things. At Jacob's bedroom door he stopped and peered in. The little man was sleeping, not making a sound, though his chest was rising and falling like normal. A sigh of relief escaped Jess' lips as he turned to go back to bed, thinking he must have had a bad dream that he just couldn't remember or something. He didn't quite make his first step away when a strange half a cry escaped Jacob's lips.

Turning back, Jess went into the baby's room and reached to lift the little boy from his crib.

"Oh, geez!" he gasped, feeling as if his hands were on fire. "You're burning up, kid," he told Jacob, who seemed almost entirely limp in his arms.

This was not good.

From that moment, everything seemed to go in slow motion and the rush of a blur all at the same time. Jess yelled for Rory, an ambulance was called, panic ensued, and not necessarily in that order.

They were stuck in the waiting area, the usual group of four. Rory was pacing despite every effort by Jess and Lorelai to get her to stop. Luke couldn't stand to be idle either and was running any errand he could, from fetching multiple cups of coffee that even his wife couldn't keep up with, to checking on the car, to calling Sookie and Lane and Emily and keeping them up to date. Not that there was anything to say until the tests were done and the doctors ascertained the problem.

Rory had tried Logan at least ten times on his cell, and even resorted to the landline for another half dozen efforts, but no dice. She text in capital letters and emailed just the same in the vain hope that some message would get through. It was impossible to know how serious this situation was, but whatever the issue, Logan deserved to know. He may have seen Jacob just twice since his birth, but the boy was still his son. Nothing could ever change the biology.

Jess tried to be of use. He desperately wanted to make this better for Rory, but there was nothing he could say. He hugged her when she let him, told her he was there, but that was all the words he had. He couldn't promise everything would be okay, because he didn't know for sure. He desperately wanted it to be true, but that wasn't enough right now.

It was crazy how easily he came to love Jacob. As an extension of Rory, the kid had an advantage, but being of Huntzberger decent too, Jess honestly wasn't sure how much that would bother him. Over time, he found it wasn't much. It was pretty simple to forget that any part of the kid came from Logan. The kid that almost everyone now called Jake was a little boy version of the Gilmore girls a not small part of the time. Maybe the weirdest thing was when people who didn't know better said how much he looked like Jess. Actually, the weirdest thing was probably that occasionally Jess saw it too. That made zero sense in the circumstances, but he kind of liked it all the same.

He spent more and more time in Stars Hollow these days. It got so Jess almost forgot what his apartment in Philly looked like, he was there so little. He would drive up to drop in at Truncheon whenever he was desperately needed, but all of his editing duties could be done from afar, as well as his own writing. A few meetings here and there in Philadelphia, New York, wherever, it wasn't hard to go back and forth. Stars Hollow was fast becoming home again. Rory's new place was as much his as it was hers.

It wasn't exactly the perfect little family home with a white picket fence and roses around the door. Just a tiny little place, a couple of streets from the Crap Shack, but it was good enough. Rory made some money from her book, more than anyone ever imagined after it got picked up by a major publishing house, and now she was writing freelance articles for online magazines and such. Jess couldn't be more proud of her or feel more lucky to know she was with him, that she loved and trusted him above all other men. Of course, that did him no good right now, as they waited and waited.

"Mrs Gilmore?" said a voice at the door.

Everybody rose as one to face the nurse hovering there.

"You're Jacob's mother?"

"I am," she confirmed. "It's actually Miss Gilmore, but that's not important. How's my baby?"

"Well, he's not feeling too great right now," the nurse explained. "He has a fairly nasty virus, which has caused him to break out in a fever and become dehydrated, but the doctor has him on the necessary fluids and meds now. He should be just fine in a day or two."

"Oh, thank God!" Rory gasped, falling into Jess' waiting arms as they hugged each other tight.

The tears of relief came freely flowing from the eyes of not just Rory and Lorelai, but the guys too. They tried to be tough, but this had been a really worrying time. They all loved Jacob so much, to lose him like this would have been beyond tragic, beyond heart-breaking. Thankfully, it wasn't quite as serious as that.

"Can I see him?" asked Rory very suddenly pulling out of Jess' arms.

"Yes, of course," said the nurse, smiling kindly. "Of course, visiting is limited to blood relations and I'm afraid it's only two at a time," she explained, exiting the room and clearly expecting Rory and Jess to follow.

For a beat, neither moved. Jess was not the baby's father, though he was often mistaken for him. It would be easy to pretend right now, but if anybody found out the truth, it probably wasn't worth it. Enough people around here knew the family, somebody could easily mention that Jess was not Jacob's daddy.

"Go, take your mom," he told Rory easily. "Me and Luke will be here."

Lorelai looked as regretfully at her husband as Rory looked at Jess, but it didn't change anything. Only the two women were Jacob's relatives by blood and they had to be the two to go to him. As the door closed behind them, Jess finally let out the frustrated anger that he had held in so well in front of Rory, lashing out at the nearest chair and sending it skittering several feet across the waiting area. Luke winced at the sound but didn't admonish his nephew. He couldn't, because he knew just how much Jess was hurting right now.

"The important thing is that he's okay," Luke reminded him.

"I know that," replied Jess. "I know."

He wouldn't look at his uncle and every word he spoke was barely a mutter. Moments like this were always going to be reminders that he was not a real part of the family he loved so much. That for all that he adored Rory and Jacob, they weren't really his to have and to hold. It hurt, more than Jess thought anything could ever hurt him anymore, and he hated that it could.

"You think I don't get it?" said Luke then. "Because believe me, Jess, I really do. You don't think that every time Christopher came around here, swooping in and trying to act like the greatest father in the world to Rory, you don't think that killed me? Because it did. I'm not her real father, I can't ever change biology like that - and given the circumstances between you and her, that has to be a good thing," he noted, "but I helped raise her. I see her as my daughter, and I am lucky enough to have her look up to me in that role. Stuff like this, the official stuff, sure, it's going to hurt. On paper, Huntzberger has rights and a claim, but where is he now, Jess?" he asked, making his nephew look at him. "You're the one that's here, you're the one that cares. You're the one that will be taking Jacob out of this hospital with Rory and taking care of him while he recovers from whatever this is. You're going to be the dad that makes the soup when he has the flu and puts a band aid on his knee when he falls down and helps to put together the ridiculous toys at Christmas. You're going to be there for all of that, aren't you?" he checked.

"Always," he swore, not missing a beat.

Luke smiled.

"That's what matters. It's all that ever really matters."

Jess wanted to believe that. A part of him even knew it was true, and not just because of what Rory had always said about Luke being more of a father to her than Hayden ever had managed. He knew from his own experience too. Jimmy Mariano might be part of his DNA, but Luke had done the better job at being his father, of being what he needed when he needed it. Still, Jess couldn't quite shake off the feeling that he was dispensable, replacable on some level, if not by Rory than definitely by Jake. In years to come, Huntzberger could change his mind and want a hand in the little boy's upbringing. Enough time passed, and Jake might want to go seek out the father who helped create him, the source of at least half his genetic makeup.

The doubts and worries wouldn't quit until later on the next day when Jacob was finally discharged from the hospital. Rory was given medicine for him to take and strict instructions about his care over the next few days. Jess hung back until she was ready to go and smiled as she walked toward him with a sleepy little man in her arms.

"Hey," Jess greeted Jacob. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you, buddy."

The little boy visibly brightened at the sight of Jess, reaching out his arms to be handed over. Rory happily let him take her baby from her, and felt tears of joy and relief prick her eyes as they hugged each other.

"Love, Dada," said Jake.

Jess froze. His eyes locked onto Rory's own over Jake's shoulder as he struggled for what to say. They were supposed to correct him, he thought, to let him know that Jess wasn't Daddy, because that was the truth, and yet Rory wasn't trying to say anything, didn't look bothered by the error.

"Love you too, Jakey," said Jess eventually, though the words were hardly more than a whisper as he rubbed the little boy's back and kissed his head. "Couldn't love you more if I tried."

Rory was smiling when he looked at her, and visibly swallowed hard as the tears in her eyes spilled over.

"Let's go home," she said, putting her arm around the two most important guys in her life. "It's been a long couple of days."


	6. Chapter 6 - 13th March 2020

**A/N: I seem to have melted a few hearts with my previous chapter, between the Luke & Jess family moment and then Jake calling Jess his 'dada'. You're welcome for that ;) Thanks to you all for the lovely feedback. I really appreciate it, even though I must confess I am mostly writing this particular story just for me because that revival stuff just didn't cut it for me! :-P**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 6 - _13th March 2020_

"I'm sorry," said Rory, hand over her chest as she came into the kitchen and found Jess there. "One day I will get used to the fact that you live here now."

Jess only smirked, not taking offence at the remark. Though he visited a lot before, it was only these last two months he had been a permanent fixture in the little house that was once nicknamed Casa de Rory. This had since been altered to The Annex - a Librarians reference that Lorelai was extremely proud of - to reference the sheer volume of books now available from within. Rory seemed to have adjusted to the extended collection of tomes in every corner of her house, but Jess being there to cook breakfast or take care of Jake when needed, that was taking more time.

"Why don't you sit down while you got the chance?" he suggested, pulling out a chair for her at the small kitchen table. "Enjoy the ten minutes before chaos ensues."

"He does run like clockwork these days," she replied with a smile, eyes going upwards to where her son slept on, at least for a while.

He really did seem to like routine, Rory had found, which was weird since her life and Jess' own barely had a system to run by. Neither of them had what you might call real jobs, no nine to five anyway. They both worked from home, going out or away very rarely for meetings, interviews or events. Rory looked after Jake a lot by herself, but Jess did his part, as did Luke and Lorelai. It was all kind of ad-hoc since everybody had their own stuff to do, and yet Jake liked to get up at a regular time, seemed to get hungry for his meals with alarming regularity too, and always seemed ready for bed at the same time.

"I guess somebody in this house has to live by the rules," said Jess, putting a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Rory and stealing a kiss. "We never have."

She smiled and thanked him for her breakfast before digging in. He certainly had a point about them not living by the rules. She considered that her life had never really been in line with convention, from the very beginning, or even before. Lorelai leaving home, not marrying Christopher, getting a job at the inn and raising Rory alone, it was all her own non-plan rather than what she 'should' do. Now the cycle was going around again. Rory was raising Jake alone, no assistance from Logan to speak of, and yet the little boy had a father figure in Jess, Rory's ex from too many years ago. It was all a little strange to explain to those that didn't know better, but it worked. Rory supposed in the end that was all that really mattered.

Right on schedule at seven thirty, movement could be heard upstairs.

"I'll go," said Jess, drying is hands on the dishtowel.

"But you already did everything else this morning." Rory sighed.

Jess smiled from the door. "Hey, if you're going to be Wonder Woman every day, at least give me a chance to be Superman once in a while."

She laughed, blushing profusely as she watched him go. Jess was kind of incredible to Rory. Maybe not the super alter ago of Clark Kent exactly, but amazing all the same. In the past, things just hadn't worked with them, for a multitude of reasons, and they were both to blame at different times. When they finally both seemed to be in the right place at the right time, she had been pregnant and it looked like an impossibility for them to figure things out. Actually, it had been surprisingly easy in the end. Jacob was always the factor that made Rory nervous when it came to Jess. He could love her, he did love her, she knew that, but to love another man's child, to help raise him as if he were your own, that was a big ask. Luke had done it, more or less, but Rory had been older and always known he wasn't really her father. It was a whole other ballgame for Jess to bring up Jacob from the beginning, taking on a role that Logan had too easily forsaken. It still made her nervous sometimes, in certain moments, but they were becoming less and less of late. Rory was never happier than when Jess complimented her motherly skills, expect perhaps for when he behaved so much like Jake's father without a moment's pause.

"Mommy!" the little boy called happily as he was carried into the kitchen by Jess.

"Hey, Jake," she said, grinning as he was put down on his feet and running over to hug her close. "You want breakfast?"

"Bacon please!" he exclaimed happily as Mommy scooped him up into her lap and offered to share her food with him.

"Always said he was just like Grandma Lorelai," Jess muttered, going back to the pan he had left half-washed in the sink.

"It wasn't a huge surprise when one of his first words was food-related," Rory agreed.

"Most of his first words were food-related," Jess reminded her. "Except for 'book', obviously, but that was a given too."

Rory couldn't argue with that, but her mind was on a different word that Jake had started saying six months back. Most kids started with 'Dada' and this little man was no different. Of course, he had only ever met his real father a handful of times, and made no connection between the word and the man. To him, Jess was Daddy, and when he called him that there was a moment when Rory just didn't know what to say. She had thought about it before, Lorelai had made her. They all knew it was likely that Jacob would think Jess was his father, because he behaved as if he were. When the moment came that he verbalised the error, Rory had to know what she was going to say or do about it, and yet it had still caught her unawares.

Jess had taken the whole thing in his stride. He heard the word said and reacted as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Loving Jacob seemed to come as easy to him as breathing and Rory was thrilled by that. At the same time, she knew it was wrong to live a lie, to have Jake believe something that was definitively untrue.

They talked about it, they had to. Somewhere between making love and falling asleep one night, he asked her what was on her mind, and Rory confessed everything. She worried. She had all these thoughts and concerns about Jake, about Jess, about the future. It was easier to just tell herself everything would work out perfectly, but that wasn't always true. One day, Logan might decide to show up out of the blue and be a father in Jacob's life. Someday, Jess and Rory might find they couldn't make it work anymore. It was awful to have to even suggest the coming of such events, but all angles had to be considered when there was an innocent child involved and they both knew it.

Jess took it well, like he seemed to take everything these past few years. He had grown into such a wonderful man, strong and sensible and understanding, qualities he had struggled to maintain in his youth. Now he was all the best of the Jess that Rory remembered from her teenage years plus a whole heap of those things that made Luke such a great husband to Lorelai and father figure to her. Rory couldn't love Jess more, and he made it clear that his feelings for her and Jacob both ran just as deep as they could. He didn't plan on going anywhere and he would play things any way she wanted to where Jake was concerned. He was a willing father to the boy, but if she felt she needed to impress on Jacob that he was Logan's son and only Jess' to raise, he would go along with that.

In the end, Rory couldn't do it. If things were different, if Logan lived closer and visited often, then maybe she would need to keep things more separated, and clearer for her son. As it was, Logan made it clearer with every missed opportunity to be there - Christmas, his next birthday - every further delayed visit and shorter phone call proved he had little to no interest in Jacob and being his father. Jess was happy to take on the role, and Rory got more and more comfortable with just letting it happen.

"Hey, careful with that, Jakey," said Jess, startling Rory from deep thought.

She finally paid attention and watched as Jess stopped Jake from getting egg all over the table and himself, wiping his face and hands clean with a cloth.

"I'm sorry." Rory shook her head. "I was... I guess I zoned out."

Jess looked at her with evident concern on his face. Rory got thoughtful sometimes, but rarely when she was supposed to be paying attention to her son. He was way too important to lose interest in and they both knew it, which meant something really serious must be playing on her mind.

"You okay?" Jess checked, lifting Jake out of her lap and into the high chair which he wouldn't need much longer.

He gave the little boy his own food and rolled up his sleeves to stop him covering them in said food. Jake was happy then, remembering his well-learned manners and saying thank you.

"You're welcome, buddy." Jess smiled, kissing the top of his head.

"I'm fine," said Rory then, belatedly answering the question about whether she was okay. "I'm just.. I guess I'm just thoughtful this morning."

Jess nodded that he understood, though he wasn't entirely sure he did. Whatever was on Rory's mind, he trusted she would tell him eventually, she pretty much always did. Pushing her never did any good. They had that in common.

"So, I was thinking, you were saying how you haven't had much time to spend with your mom lately, and I really don't have much going on today, so maybe I could take Jake for the day, give you some time for a girls day with Lorelai?" said Jess as he finished cleaning up the kitchen utensils and such. "I mean, I did tell Luke I was available to help out at the diner if he really needed me, but I can always take Jake over there. He's fine in the high chair by the counter. Pretty much commands his own audience, which he loves. He's gonna be a real charmer when he's older. People are going to have to lock up their daughters when he hits puberty."

"Just like Daddy," said Rory without thinking.

She knew Jess had taken her words the wrong way when the cabinet door closed with too much of a bang.

Jake visibly jumped at the sound, lip quivering slightly until Rory made a point of smiling and telling him it was fine. Jess moved behind her, headed for the door and Rory leapt up to catch his sleeve.

"Jess, I meant you," she told him urgently. "When I said Daddy just then, I swear, I meant you."

When he turned back to look at her, big blue eyes shining, he knew she meant every word. For a second, there was a knife in his heart when he thought she was talking about Logan. Now he realised his mistake and felt a real fool. Of course she meant him. Jake called him Daddy, it was the only reasonable explanation. He was an idiot to have jumped to any other conclusion.

"I'm sorry," he said with a sigh. "I didn't... I'm a jerk."

"No. You're not," Rory insisted, shaking her head. "Jess, you're the only father in Jake's life, and the only man in mine. You're all we want and all we need. You know that, don't you?"

"I do," he agreed, smiling as her arms came up around his neck and pulled him closer.

His hands when naturally to her waist and held her too as they kissed each other. Jake laughed in the background.

"Mommy and Daddy kissing! Love, love, love!" he declared happily, making Rory and Jess both laugh.

The laughter was brief as a thought occurred to Rory, and before she had a chance to talk herself out of it she spoke.

"Jess?" she said, getting his attention in a second. "I... Will you marry me?"

The shock that registered on his face wasn't as insulting as it might have been. Rory was just as surprised that she had asked as he was, and yet she wasn't regretting her question at all. In fact, the happy warm feeling that bubbled up inside her was almost too good. She figured it would only be surpassed if Jess gave her a positive answer.

"You're serious?" he checked, hardly able to believe it.

"Very serious," she agreed, nodding her head.

Jess shook his head almost imperceptibly, overwhelmed by the very idea of all this.

He glanced beyond Rory's shoulder to Jake in his high chair, and then came back to meet her eyes.

"Yes," he said eventually. "If you're crazy enough to think that you really wanna marry me, Rory Gilmore, then I'm in."


	7. Chapter 7 - 26th December 2020

**A/N: Glad you all liked the proposal. I know it seems like Rory played copy-cat to Lorelai, but hey, Amy seems to think things should run full-circle, right? So, why not? ;) Thanks for all the love, peops. You know how much your wonderful reviews mean to me, I'm sure! Here's another scene. Just one more to go after this! :)**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 7 - _26th December 2020_

Rory picked up her cell when it vibrated on the vanity table, smiling when she read the message she had received.

"Y'know modern technology is ruining good old fashioned traditions," said Lorelai from behind her. "Pretty sure that's breaking the rules."

"The rule is that the bride and groom shouldn't see each other until the wedding ceremony," said her daughter smartly as she tapped out a reply to Jess. "Texting isn't even mentioned."

"Only because texting wasn't invented then," Lorelai argued. "No contact, that's the idea."

"Even if that were true, hypocrite much?" said Rory, tipping her head back to look at Lorelai. "You and Luke were sitting eating pizza together until five minutes before your wedding ceremony!"

Her mom gave that a moment's consideration, then shrugged.

"Meh, that's different," she declared, gently putting Rory's head back down so she could finish up with her hair. "Me and Luke are... well, we're me and Luke. Rules don't apply to us."

"But they apply to me and Jess?"

"Sure, sure. You and Jess are like a real live fairytale."

"A fairytale?" Rory actively laughed at that one. "Wow. If I had to guess what literary character you would pick for Jess to be, I really didn't picture Prince Charming."

"Well, I have to admit, for a long time that would not have been my first choice. On the initial meeting, he was way more Holden Caulfield than I was comfortable with, but it's been a long time, sweets. You've changed, he's changed. We've all changed, I guess. It's been a very, very long and windy road for the two of you, but finally you battled through it all and you got here, to your perfect Winter Wonderland wedding day," she said with a smile. "If that's not like a fairy-tale, then I don't know what is."

Rory smiled and tried to stave off the tears that were welling in her eyes. The last thing she needed right now was to cry and ruin her make-up. In fifteen minutes she was going to marry the man she loved, the only man she could ever imagine spending the rest of her life with. It probably wasn't exactly a fairytale, but it was pretty damn close, and she did not want to ruin it by looking a wreck when she walked down the aisle.

"And you're done," said Lorelai at last. "I don't think there's ever been a more beautiful bride," she added, her chin on Rory's shoulder as they looked at each other in the mirror.

"Thank you, Mom," her daughter said softly. "And I don't just mean for my hair or for everything you've done for the wedding, I mean for everything, ever."

"That's a lot of everything," Lorelai noted, "but you're welcome, babe."

This was the end of an era in a lot of ways, and the start of a new life in others. True enough, Rory had been living apart from Lorelai for a while now, the two of them cohabiting with the men in their lives for quite some time. Still, it felt strange to Rory, knowing she was going to be officially tied to anther person for the rest of her life. She was always going to be Jake's mom, and Lorelai's daughter, those were definites, but now she would be Jess' wife too. She really, really liked that.

"I'm still having trouble with the whole Mr and Mrs Gilmore thing," said Lorelai then, moving away. "It's like you and Jess are literally turning into my parents."

She shuddered at the thought, and yet Rory knew she was doing that on purpose. Honestly, Rory didn't hate the idea of being at least a little like Grandma and Grandpa, but the same names wouldn't make their personalities shift like that.

It had come as kind of a shock to her too when Jess had suggested taking her name after the wedding. Tradition dictated that Rory should become Mrs Mariano, but when Jess pitched the idea of becoming Mr Gilmore, she didn't hate it. It was kind of a miracle to her that her mom had given in as far as Gilmore-Danes. Rory was very attached to the name she shared with her mother and grandparents her whole life so far. It would be awfully strange to be known by anything else, and now she didn't have to. It also eliminated the problem of potentially having a different name to Jake, who had been registered Jacob Lucas Richard Gilmore from the start. Now they would all be Gilmores together. It couldn't be more perfect really.

"It's going to be kind of a drama getting everything changed," she said, thinking about it now. "Social Security, the IRS, then Driver's Licence, bank details, plus all the little things like magazine subscriptions, library card, everything. Jess says it'll be worth it though." Rory smiled.

"That kid has been trying to be one of us for so long." Lorelai grinned right back at her. "I guess it's about time we cut the guy a break."

Rory went to her mother then and hugged her tight without a moment's pause. It meant so much to her that Lorelai had finally accepted Jess into the family. Perhaps the bigger miracle was that Emily had given her blessing too, but then she had mellowed some in the past few years. Lorelai said she certainly needed to, and Rory couldn't argue with that.

"Okay, I think it's time to go," said Lorelai, checking her watch. "You all set?"

"More than ready." Rory nodded happily.

* * *

It was a little overwhelming to face the crowd of onlookers that wanted to see their favourite Stars Hollow princess finally tie the knot. Everybody was there. Emily with Berta and various family members in tow. Sookie and Jackson, Lane and Zach, a thankfully reconciled Paris and Doyle, and all the kids that came with those couples. All the townies with all their significant others, plus Christopher and Gigi, April and her latest boyfriend, Chris and Matt from Truncheon. The strange thing was that Rory hardly saw any of the faces. All she knew was her mom holding onto her, walking her down the aisle. All she saw was her soon-to-be husband waiting for her, Luke standing by as best man, with Jake in his arms.

"You look amazing," said Jess as Rory reached him.

"You're shaking," she realised as she took a hold of his hand. "Or is that me?"

"Probably a little of both," he admitted, the two of them sharing a smile as they turned to face Reverend Skinner.

The ceremony was kind of a blur to Rory and Jess. All they wanted was to get to the part where they pledged their lives to each other and make it official, at last. When finally they were proclaimed husband and wife, and Jess was advised to kiss the bride, Rory was elated to know it was done, to hear the rapturous applause from the assembled friends and family.

"We made it," she said when they parted.

"Yes, we did," Jess agreed. "Happy?"

"I don't think I've ever been happier."

That earned her another kiss from her new husband, and ever more whooping, calling, and applause erupted through the hall. Nobody was more pleased than Jake, who yelled for his Mommy and Daddy, wanting to get in on the hugging and happiness. They were more than pleased to let him be a part of it, and walked down the aisle carrying him between them.

They headed straight to the reception, which wasn't hard to get to. The inn's annex was their playground for the evening, and there was nobody who wasn't invited to join in the fun. The cake was cut, the gifts were opened, and everybody danced for hours. Even Jess, who would usually avoid this kind of crazy crowded situation, managed to get into the event. Honestly, he would go through just about anything if it meant he was tied to Rory for the rest of his life.

"So, how does it feel, Mr Gilmore?" she asked him as they slow-danced around the room with so many other couples. "That's going to take some getting used to," she declared with laughter in her voice before he could even answer her question.

"Honestly, feels pretty good," he told her, smiling wide. "If you'd've asked me when I first moved here if I wanted to be a Gilmore... Hell, if you asked me in the year or two that followed that, I'd've laughed in your face, but now?" Jess shook his head. "Gilmore means you, and Jake, and this crazy-ass town that somehow became the place I call home. It works for me," he told her, shrugging his shoulders.

"You have no idea how happy you make me, do you?" said Rory, gazing up at him with nothing but love in her eyes.

Jess didn't have an answer to that. He still couldn't understand how they got here, how it ever all figured itself out after so long. He screwed up, she screwed up, by rights him and Rory should be nothing more than a passing memory from their teen years. Instead they were here, the day after Christmas, almost twenty years after they first met, and they were married. It was the nuttiest of situations in the craziest of towns, and he loved it. He loved her. None of this would form into words in his head, no matter how he tried, so Jess just gave up trying and kissed her instead.

"Excuse me," said a voice.

Jess pulled away from his new wife like his face was on fire, and for good reason. Rory smiled in spite of herself, wondering if there would ever be a time when Emily didn't freak Jess out at least a little bit.

"Hey, Grandma," she greeted her happily. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"It was a beautiful ceremony, and the townspeople here are always so welcoming," she noted, looking around at the crazy that was Stars Hollow. "However, I think it's about time I got to bed, and before I do that, I wanted to wish you both congratulations, and all the very best for your future together."

"Thank you, Grandma," said Rory, tearful in her happiness as she hugged Emily tightly.

"And you," she said, turning to Jess then. "You know I never did think you were good enough for my granddaughter in the beginning," she told him, "but now I see how happy you make her and what a wonderful father you are being to my great grandson. How can I do anything but welcome you into the Gilmore family?"

Jess was shocked to hear her speak so politely to him and doubly so when she grabbed a hold of him to embrace him in a brief hug.

"All the legalities of changing your name will be costly," she said softly as they parted, shoving an envelope into Jess' hand. "I expect to see all three of you equally as often as I see Lorelai and Luke. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," he told her with a smile he couldn't help when they parted. "Thank you."

Emily nodded once and then turned to walk away. Jess' attention returned to the envelope in his hand but he chose to leave it be for now, shoving it into his pocket before Rory ever noticed it was there. Later they could talk about whether he was accepting the gift or what it might mean. Today was for the two of them, their love, their new life together. From where Jess was standing, the future was looking awfully bright.


	8. Chapter 8 - 5th November 2021

**A/N: So, previous chapter didn't get much in the way of reviews because I think most people missed it? seems to be having some issues with logging updates and sending out notifications, which kinda sucks, but hopefully it's been fixed or is getting fixed in due course. Guess we're about to find out! lol**

 _ **(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)**_

Chapter 8 - _5th November 2021_

"Here's to Mom and Luke," said Rory, raising her glass high.

"To Luke and Lorelai" her husband dutifully agreed, taking a sip of his champagne and trying not to wince.

Jess really would've preferred a beer and from the look on Luke's face he wasn't alone. Lorelai drank deep from her own glass and then happily smiled.

"Happy Anniversary to me!" she declared. "Good thing I love this stuff. Pretty sure I'm the only one who's going to be working on this bottle."

"Agreed," said her husband, checking that Jess also wanted a beer and going to fetch two from the fridge.

"I'd help if I could," Rory reminded her mom, settling back comfortably into the couch cushions. "Unfortunately, bubbles and baby don't mix."

"I think he's worth the sacrifice," said Jess, pulling her close and kissing her temple.

"No doubt about that," she agreed with a grin. "And somebody really can't wait to be a big brother," she said pointedly.

Jake looked up from his story book and grinned proudly.

"Gonna be a big brother," he said, already knowing that was his title.

At four years old, he didn't entirely understand the whole pregnancy thing, and neither should he, but he was well aware that Mommy had a baby in her tummy. When that baby was born, then Jake would be a big brother, and that was a real important job.

"You are going to be the best big brother ever," said Jess, reaching for Jake and pulling him up onto the couch between himself and Rory, book and all. "Aren't you, Jakey?"

"Uh-huh," he said nodding definitely. "Gonna take care of the baby, be a big brother," he intoned, having listened and learnt well from his parents and grandparents both. "Best big brother ever," he continued to mutter, even as his attention went back to his book.

Rory and Jess shared a smile over his head. They could not be more proud of Jake or more pleased to be having a second child. Rory had worried some, but it was a momentary thing. She had brief concerns about Jess loving their new baby more than Jake, but that really didn't last long at all. The first person he wanted to tell about the pregnancy was Jake, making a big speech about how much he loved the little boy and that wouldn't change when the new kid came along. It was one of the most beautiful things Rory had ever heard in her life.

Of course, another man that was no longer in her life had sent a letter a few months back that moved her almost as much as Jess' speech to Jake.

Logan had been absent from their lives in almost every way these past few years. There was an account that he put money into for Jake's future and he sent some gifts for Christmas and birthday, but that was all. Putting in an appearance seemed to be too much effort for him, and Rory pretty much gave up trying to include him in Jake's life in any way.

The issue was raised more than once that Jess could never officially be Jake's father whilst Logan was alive in the world. One such discussion came up last Christmas in Nantucket.

Emily had really warmed up to Jess more recently. Rory couldn't be more happy about that, but she really didn't expect her grandmother to exert any kind of authority where her grandson's biological father was concerned. Not far into the new year, Rory got paperwork from a lawyer's office, stating that their client, Mrs Emily Gilmore, had advised them on a potential petition of adoption, and were quite happy to act on behalf of Lorelai Leigh and Jess Lucas Gilmore in the proceedings.

Rory wasn't sure what to say or do. She and Jess had a long talk about it all, and in the end decided to let the lawyers do whatever they wanted. Logan wasn't exactly trying to be a part of Jake's life, so maybe he would sign over any rights he had to be his father in the future. Rory didn't want to broach the subject with her ex, but did have the good grace to send him an email, saying he might get some legal papers soon, and that she was okay with whatever he decided to do about them.

Weeks passed, and finally the lawyers let them know that everything was in motion. A couple of signatures from Jess and he could become Jake's father, if that was what he and Rory wanted. As Jess said at the time, nothing would make him happier. Now it was official, and Rory was pleased too, but every now and then she recalled the letter they received a while later from Logan himself. She hadn't known him write a real long-hand letter before, not ever, but then these were exceptional circumstances, she supposed.

"You okay?" asked Jess when she was quiet and thoughtful too long.

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head. "I was just thinking. Doesn't matter."

"About him?"

Rory bit her lip and let her eyes to dip to Jake. Her hand gently smoothed his hair as she watched him reading to himself in a quiet whisper. He was her son, he was Jess' son. Logan never had really featured in the situation, save for one night in a bed and breakfast, that felt like a million years ago.

"Sweets?" Lorelai said worriedly. "You sure you're all good?"

"Yes, I am," Rory said definitely. "I'm sorry, this is a big special day for you, and I'm being so stupid," she said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek before anyone noticed.

Luke returned to the room, handing Jess a beer and looking concerned as he sipped at his own. Clearly something had been said whilst he was gone, and he hardly dare ask what it was.

"You're never stupid," Jess assured Rory, reaching an arm around the back of Jake to get a hold of her and pull her closer. "Things have been pretty crazy lately, and you're all hormones and everything."

"Yeah, that must be it." Rory nodded. "You know I'm happy, right?" she checked.

"Sure," Jess agreed, finding her a real genuine smile.

He wasn't worried. The whole thing with him adopting Jake had been intense, and kind of miraculous actually. Jess never thought in a million years that Logan would sign over his parental rights so easily. In some ways, he was mad at him for giving up on his kid without a fight, because Jess knew how much that hurt. On the other hand, it gave him the chance to officially become Jake's father himself, and there was no way in hell he would ever let this kid down, not for a second.

If anything was making Rory teary right now, he had a feeling it was the letter they got from Logan after the paperwork had gone through. It was as heartfelt as anything Jess ever read his whole life, something he never did expect from Huntzberger at all. He wasn't ready to be a father when Jake was born, and the ass was at least smart enough to know that he and Rory were never meant for the long haul. In his eyes, things had worked out just exactly how they were supposed to in the end, and he had the power to make the dream family scenario absolutely perfect for Rory, Jess, and Jake. Logan couldn't deny them that, so he didn't.

"Okay, we need to get this party swinging!" said Lorelai then, clapping her hands. "Where are the presents?" she asked Jake in particular, reaching out to tickle him.

The little boy laughed and wriggled around in the couch, trying to get away from crazy Grandma Lorelai.

"Presents!" he yelled between fits of the giggles. "We need the presents, Mommy!" he said, looking up at Rory.

"We have lots of presents for Grandma and Grandpa, don't we?" she said then, pulling herself together.

"C'mon, buddy, let's go get those," said Jess, getting up and grabbing the kid's hand.

They returned within a minute with several brightly wrapped boxes that clearly Jake had helped with given the strange shapes and over-use of tape and sparkles. The presents that Lorelai opened, with Luke watching from the arm of her chair, were simple things but much appreciated. A tacky unicorn plate with their names and the date of their wedding on it, that made both Luke and Lorelai laugh like crazy. A box of candy, since Lorelai always insisted no collection of gifts for a special occasion was complete without a sweet treat. A gift certificate to put towards a weekend away at a fancy hotel. A hand-made ornamental something that was very hard to describe, but that Jake was awfully proud of. Every gift was loved, that much was clear.

"You guys are the best!" Lorelai declared, moving to hug Jake as tight as she dare.

She even made Jess stand up so she could hug him and then tried to find a way to give Rory a squeeze without getting her up off the couch or crushing her bump. She hadn't quite figured out the logistics when her daughter stopped her in the attempt.

"We're not done yet," she said, reaching down the side of the couch and pulling one more package from it's hiding place. "One more gift," she declared, handing it to Lorelai.

"This looks like..." she began, words eluding her when she realised she was right.

What she held in her hands now was a manuscript, or part of one, tied up with a blue ribbon. Sitting back down in her chair, Lorelai showed Luke what she had just received, the title in big bold letters on the front cover making them both smile.

"You know how the publishing house kept encouraging me to write a sequel to Gilmore Girls?" said Rory, grinning wide. "Well, I really didn't have any more material at the time. Now there's Jake, and Jess, and this little man on the way," she said with her hand on her swollen belly. "There's more story to tell."

"About the Gilmore Guys." Lorelai smiled as she referenced the title.

"It's just the first three chapters, but there's more to come," Rory explained. "I know you waited until the whole book was done for the first one, and you can with this too, if you want-"

"No." Lorelai shook her head. "No, this one I'll read now, as it comes. I already know how happy it's going to be," she said, smiling wide even as tears fell from her eyes.

Luke had his arm around her then, pulling her close and kissing her head.

"It's a beautiful gift, Rory," he said to his pseudo-daughter then. "Thank you."

Jake looked up then, at each of the teary eyed people sat around him, and frowned.

"Why you being sad?" he checked. "Daddy, why?" he asked Jess worriedly.

"Nobody's sad, Jakey. I promise," he told him. "Sometimes grown ups cry when they're happy."

Jake made a strange face and then shook his head.

"That's stupid."

Everybody laughed at that, agreeing wholeheartedly with the statement. It _was_ kind of stupid when you thought about it logically. Nobody here had a reason to cry right now, only to be extremely happy with the way their lives had turned out. It had been a long and very rocky road at times, but in the end, they were all getting a chance to live happily ever after, or at least for the foreseeable future. That was enough for now.

The End

 **A/N2: This is the last piece of this particular fic. New ideas are always a-brewin' in my head so don't worry, I'll be back with more Lit in some form or other soon. For those who are interested, there's still quite a bit to come on my other WIP,** _ **If The Kids Are United**_ **, and if you're at all interested in** _ **The Runaways-verse**_ **, please** **vote in the poll on my Profile Page.**


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